The West Chester University Golden Rams are off to a promising start this season. They have come through with good performances at The Ursinus Collegeville Classic, the Orange and Maroon Classic and recently at the 12th annual Bison Open inside Gerhard Fieldhouse on the campus of Bucknell University. The meet consisted of seventeen schools, including four Division I Universities and eight PSAC teams, as well.Previous to the meet at Bucknell, distance runner John Hedrick mentioned, “he was excited to see how the team would do during the weekend. This meet will give us a preview for what to expect at PSAC’s.”
Hedrick ran a 9:50.00 in the 3000m as well as clocking in at 17:04.01 in the 5000m. Along with Hedrick, Mike Malejko ran both the 3000m and the 5000m, with times of 9:26.25 and 16:15.03, respectively.
“Overall our goal this weekend is to qualify people for PSAC’s,” Malejko mentioned before the meet. “Between good teams and good athletes, this meet is definitely going to be exciting. When athletes go into a meet expecting a challenge, we run faster and try even harder. Hopefully that will help when it comes to making the cut for PSAC’s.”
As if Malejko could predict the future, many athletes returned from Bucknell with heads held high and school records under their belts. Prior to the meet, captain Matt Houser made it known that he had some personal goals for himself.
“I broke two new schools records at the first meet of the season in the 60m dash and 300m dash,” Houser said. “I would love to add onto that by dropping my times in the 200m dash and the 400m dash.
“It would also be a blessing if I could own those two records as well.”
Based on Houser’s performance this weekend, he is close to reaching one of his goals. Houser recorded the fourth-best time in history at WCU in the 400m clocking in at 49.86 seconds. His time is also the second-best in the PSAC so far this winter, which also qualified him for the indoor championships next month. Houser was also a runner up in the 60m with a time of 7.08 seconds.
Finishing right behind teammate and fellow captain Matt Houser, Craig Espenshade finished second in the 400m with a time of 50.03, which is the fourth-best time in the PSAC this winter. Also running the 400m, Tim Thiry clocked in at 52.17 and Kyle Perry at 52.56.
The men’s 4x400m relay team finished with a time of 3 minutes, 22.21 seconds, which is the third-best in recorded history at WCU as well as the second-best time in the conference so far this winter. The members of the 4x400m relay team are Espenshade, Perry, Houser and Thiry.
Leighon Johnson finished first in the 200m with a time of 22.39, which is the third best time in history at WCU. Johnson also placed fifth in the long jump with a distance of 21 feet, 10 _ inches.
Captain Matt Langdale qualified in the 800m with a time of 1:57.81, which put him in third place. He also received ninth in the mile with a time of 4:27.32.
Tyler Real placed second in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.47. Before the season, Real seemed very eager for the season to start.
“Our team is very high spirited and we believe we are as good as all the other teams in the conference,” Real said. “We really don’t have many weaknesses. As a team we just need to stay strong and healthy throughout the season.”
The women’s track and field team did an outstanding job at the Bucknell Heptagonal as well. Captain Melinda Wentz finished sixth in the pentathlon which earned the Lady Rams 3,000 points, which is the third-best point total for the women in the PSAC this winter. Wentz also finished the 60m hurdles in 9.59 seconds, as well as clear 5 feet 1 inch in the high jump. Wentz qualified for the PSAC’s in all of her events.
Along with Wentz, teammate Katie Butler placed fifth in the high jump, clearing 5 feet 1 inch, which qualified her for PSAC’s
Also qualifying for the PSAC’s was Jess Joseph. Joseph ran the 3000m with a time of 10:48.70 and received seventh place. Teammate Lyndsey Ratasiewicz ran the mile with a time of 5:23.29 and placed eighth.
Mary Gawbill ran the 800m, clocking in at 2:25.24, which bettered her PSAC time along with Sam Smarkola who ran the 200m in 22.87. Smarkola finished sixth in the 60m dash as well, clocking in at 8.20. Smarkola was also part of the fourth place 4x400m relay team. The team, which consists of Smarkola, Danielle Howell, Brigid Gallagher and Lyndsay Nygren, clocked in at 4:06.66.
Kamber Schrann tied for seventh place in the pole vault receiving a height of 9-10. Miriam Hughes jumped 35-3¬, which put her in sixth place. Junior Liz Jackson threw the shot put 37-6.
Both the men and women’s track and field team had an eventful weekend at the Bucknell Heptagonal. The athletes put up major points for West Chester University that helped represent the Purple and Gold proudly.
The Golden Rams hope to continue their strong season on Feb. 19 as they participate in the Keough Invitational at Havertown. This is the final meet before the PSAC Championships at the end of the month taking place at Edinboro.
Jillian Morgan is a third-year student majoring in communication studies. She can be reached at JM652349@wcupa.edu.